Jun 26, 2015

Keeping it in the family: the absence of young Italians from the public piazza (Pierluca Birindelli)

Abstract

The author
analysed autobiographies written by university students, comparing his
impressions with the results of studies on young people carried out by Italian
sociologists. The picture that he pieced together of this generation “without
fathers or teachers”, and of the related responsibilities of the previous
generation, is far from encouraging. The modern generation of young Italians
nurtures values pivoting on the family and on self-fulfilment, and acts within
spheres of friendship and sentiment at short radius. The rest of the social
world is mediated, experienced through films, internet and holidays. The
universalist attitude has been supplanted by a widespread and rooted
particularism. The collective dimension that transcends the experience of the
individual and his reference group has lost relevance.